Clare TD Joe Carey expected to confirm future plans during Dáil recess

Sources in Fine Gael said Mr Carey has long not been expected to contest the next election.

Joe Carey has been absent from the Dáil since he was rushed to hospital in March last year. Picture: Eamon Ward

Clare TD Joe Carey is expected to make an announcement about his future during the Dáil recess.

Mr Carey, first elected for Fine Gael in 2007, was rushed to hospital in March last year after experiencing breathing difficulties, and he has been treated for cardiac issues.

The 47-year-old TD had initially spent several nights on a trolley in the University Hospital Limerick emergency department in March 2023, before being moved to the cardiology unit.

In a video posted in the days after he entered hospital, Mr Carey said that he first became unwell at home and that he “could not breathe at all” for around half an hour. 

Mr Carey has been absent from the Dáil since, and was not in the Dáil chamber ahead of the vote of confidence in the Government — votes which are tightly whipped — last December. He also missed the election of Simon Harris as Taoiseach. A Fine Gael spokesperson declined in December to comment on Mr Carey's absence.

Sources in Fine Gael said that while Mr Carey has long not been expected to contest the next election, his official announcement will not be made until the Dáil recess, which begins at the end of this week. 

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This would mean that his statement would not be read into the Dáil record until September. It is understood that the party organisation in Clare held a meeting in recent days, but that no mention was made about the next election or Mr Carey's future. It is understood that the party's Clare branch will hold a selection convention in September, ahead of the September 22 deadline for all candidates to be selected.

One source said that the party's selection convention in Clare was due to be held in September, so the timing "makes sense".

It is well known within the party that Mr Carey will not run again, with an expectation that his sister Leonora Carey could contest the seat in his place.

Ms Carey, who is a former chairwoman of the Fine Gael executive council, has also been spotted attending public meetings in Clare in recent months, fuelling ongoing speculation as to Mr Carey’s future in politics. However, it is understood that other members of the Clare branch would be interested in the nomination, including senator Martin Conway.

Mr Carey's father Donal was a TD for Clare from 1982 to 2002 and was a minister of state in the Rainbow Coalition of 1994 to 1997.